Flattening conical hat-bodies.



F. J. MUHLFELD.

FLATTENING GONIGAL HAT BODIES.

APPLICATION FILED MAYIO, 1911.

1,052,504. I v Patented Feb. 11,1913.

Fl 3. f.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON u. c.

FRANK J. MUHLFELD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

FLATTENING CONICAL HAT-BODIES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 11,1913.

Application filed May 10, 1911. Serial No. 626,337.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK J. MUHLFELD, a citizen of the United States, residing at 805 Croto-na Park North, New York, county of New York, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in F lattening Conical Hat-Bodies,

fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying processes.

The invention also permits the hat-body to be originally felted in the form of a steeper cone than is practical where any other proc ess is employed to flatten a cone-shaped body into a disk. V

The process consists of a series of steps which will hereinafter be more fully described, and will be claimed in the appended claims.

The invention will be understood by reference to the annexed drawing, which illustrates one specific means of carrying out the invention; but the means used to practise the invention is wholly immaterial.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a conical body; Fig. 2 is a plan of a flat body which may be made from such conical body; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the body folded once; and Fig. 4 is a per spective view of the body folded twice. Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating the application of the stretchers to the folds of such doubly folded bodies; and Fig. 6 shows the doubly folded body thus stretched to quadrantal form, which adapts it to form a flat body when unfolded.

Fig. 1 is a perspective View showing a hatbody a of the ordinary conical form, the opening (2 at the base of which is small in relation to the height of the body. Fig. 3 shows the same body flattened, forming primary folds c and c at its opposite edges, and the sides of the fabric between the folds parallel with one another. Fig. 4 shows the body of Fig. 3 thus folded again with the primary folds c and 0 one upon the other, and making two secondary folds d, d at the opposite edge of the body one within the other, and the four thicknesses of fabric parallel with one another when thus folded. The folds all extend through'the apex a. of the body.

As the purpose of the invention is to convert a conical hat-body into a flat disk, and the process is essentially a flattening one, I have used the terms flattening and flattened herein exclusively in connection with the operation of the process, and it is therefore undesirable to use the same terms in connection with the first folding of the body, although such first folding does involve a flattening or collapsing of the cone to form flat sides. I have, therefore, in the specification and claims used the term flattening only to describe the operation or result of the process, and to avoid any conflict-ing use of the term flattening have referred to the first flattening of the body shown in Fig. 3 as a folding of the body in a line through its apex. The first actual folding of the body which is shown in Fig. 4 is thus necessarily termed the folding of the body again, and where such term is used in the claims it will be understood to have the meaning just described. The body of Fig. 4 is then ready for stretching, which may be effected by any suitable means, as the stretchingarms e, e in Fig. 5, the arm 6 being forked to enter the two folds c, 0, while the arm 6" is inserted within the inner fold d. Such arms are shown extended within the entire length of the folds and mounted movably upon a segmental bed f upon which they are moved outwardly by a screw is fitted to a bearing k on the arms. The bed is shown provided with clamping-jaws Z, m, arranged to grip the edge of the body intermediate to the arms 6, e,to prevent the body from sliding outwardly upon the arms as their angle to one another is increased. The clamps are in practice separated automatically by a spring and pinched together by a clamp-screw i when the edges of the body are inserted between them. In the operation of such a stretching device, the arms 6, e operate upon the entire length of the folds, and stretch the intermediate parts of the body proportionately to their distance from the apex.

The body is kept Wet and hot during the stretching operation by any suitable means,

and is partially stretched and then releasedfrom the arms and from the clamp and folded in a new position, such refolding and stretching being repeated to any desired extent, and operating gradually to'expand the opening bof the body. I

If a perfectly flat body, such as is shown in Fig. 2, is desired, the doubly folded body is stretched to the quadrantal form shown in Fig. 6 which, when the folds areopened on the central line of Fig. 2, produces a fiat'body, which may 'be used in any manufacture of hats to. which it is adapted.

It is found in practice, that inorder to make a perfectly flat hat-body .it' -is very desirable to stiffen the body with the usual shellac solution before stretching the same, as the hardening of such stiffening when the stretching operation is completed helps very materially to retain the hat-body in a flat form. a If such a stretched body were pulled and dried without the stiffening, it would :shrink and .pucker and would not present theplane surface that is desired. I have, therefore, made a special claim to the process which involvesvthe stiffening-prior to the stretching operation.

Having .thus set forththe nature of the invention 'what is claimed herein is:

1. The process of'stretching a conical hatbody, which consists in folding a hat-body on a line through the apex ofthe body, then folding s'uchfolded body again on a line through the said apex, forming four sectors of equal size, and then-pulling the en? tire length of the folds apart to simultanea ously stretch the :portions intermediate to the foldsl 2; The process of stretching a conicalhatbody 'i'nto'fla't form, which consists in folding the body twice through its apex forming *four thicknesses 'of fabric parallel to 5- each other: and'operating upon the entire witnesses.

length of the foui' folds to stretch the parts intermediate to the folds proportionately to their distance-from the apex, until the primary folds are in a line across the center of the body.

3. The process of stretching a conical hatbody, which consists in folding the body morethan oince'. through its apex, thereby forming a plurality of folds, and then stretching the felt between the folds simultaneously and proportionately, from the apex of the cone to the base.

4'. The process of stretching a conical hatbody, which consists, first, in stiffening the body with the usual stiffening solution, then folding the body through'its apex, forming two thicknessesof fabric, then folding again through the apex "to make' four. thicknesses of fabric parallel to eachother, then stretching these four thicknesses simultaneously and proportionately, from the apex of the cone to the base.

5. The process of stretching a conical hatbody, which consists first, in stiffening: the

body with the usual stiffening solution, then 1 folding the body through its apex, forming two thicknesses of fabric, then folding again through the apex to make fouresthicknesses of fabric parallel to each.other stretchingf these four thicknesses simultaneously andproportionately, from; rthei apex of the cone to the base, then 'changingg-thmfoldsj and.

repeating the folding and stretching until each of the thicknesses forms afquadrant of a circle, and the whole when op;ened forms.

substantiallyfiat:disk;1

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing FRANK'J. MUHLFELD. Witnesses E. J. MACCREADY, ROBERT EISERMANN.

Copies of this patent may jbe obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' i I I Washington, D. C. I 

